Boulder County has asked a judge to order the Red Lion Restaurant to close its only access bridge on April 1 because the business owner hasn't started building a permanent bridge that meets public safety standards.

If a judge complies with the county's request, the 47-year-old Boulder Canyon restaurant could close, leaving about 100 brides planning to get married there this summer scrambling to make alternate plans.

After the Red Lion's bridge -- its only public access -- washed into Boulder Creek on June 8 under the pressure of high water levels, the county allowed the restaurant to put up a temporary bridge.

The agreement required the restaurant to begin construction on a permanent bridge within six months, among other requirements, according to a lawsuit that Boulder County has filed against the Red Lion Restaurant.

The Red Lion failed to submit design drawings for a permanent bridge and apply for a floodplain permit by September, as required, and it failed to initiate construction on a new bridge by December, according to the lawsuit. Boulder County officials said Wednesday that the transportation department has seen no proof that any work has been done on a permanent bridge.

The result is "a threat to public health and safety, a threat which will grow substantially more serious in the spring when creek levels rise and a flood event is more likely to occur," according to the suit.

(Paul Aiken / The Daily Camera)

The county is asking a judge to order Red Lion owner Christoph Mueller to install a bridge that is in full compliance with the county's land use code and to close the temporary bridge to the public beginning April 1.

Mueller told the Camera on Wednesday that he's been working with engineers for months on the bridge, but the process is taking longer than expected.

"When we signed the piece of paper, no one had any idea how long the whole thing was going to take," Mueller said. "They gave me three months, but it took five to six months to even get the temporary bridge safe enough."

Mueller said he's also waiting on potential help from the city of Boulder, which is looking to build a new trail west of town that would link Flagstaff Road to Boulder Canyon via Chapman Drive, a back road that leads to the Red Lion. Mueller said the city needs to use his bridge to create such a trail, so he wants the city to help him cover the costs of a permanent structure.

"For me to do anything radical without seeing what the city wants to do would be foolish," Mueller said.

Still, he said, his restaurant has about 100 weddings booked this summer, and he doesn't intend to disappoint the brides. So, he said, he's willing to get the ball rolling on a new bridge, if that's what it will take to keep the temporary bridge open past April 1.

"We will make all the progress that has to be made," he said. "We don't want 100 hysterical brides looking for new places."

Mueller said he's planning to meet this morning with the city's Open Space and Mountain Parks staff to discuss a possible solution. City spokesman Patrick von Keyserling confirmed the city's meeting with Mueller but said officials have "not committed to anything."

The city is still negotiating to buy 115 acres of land behind the Red Lion that would enable it to construct the new trail, von Keyserling said. The priority for the Open Space and Mountain Parks staff is to build a separate pedestrian bridge over Boulder Creek.

Von Keyserling said he believes crews would be able to complete the trail work and build a walking bridge using access roads east of the Red Lion on city open space, not the restaurant's driving bridge.

"So tomorrow's meeting is really to listen to Mr. Mueller," he said. "No decisions have been made on anything yet."

Mueller said he doesn't think a judge will close the bridge because of the ramifications such a decision would have.

"We would have to close," he said. "Forty employees would be out of work."

But Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said the county needs to make sure the bridge doesn't pose a danger to Red Lion patrons and the community at large when flood season arrives this spring.

Concerns include the narrow width of the bridge. If there is a fire at the restaurant, Gerstle said, there would be no way for a fire truck to get there.

"And the current temporary bridge is not sitting on a foundation," he said. "If there were significant runoff or flooding, that bridge could fall into the creek and cause all sorts of problems, not only for the Red Lion, but flood effects downstream" such as flooding of Boulder Canyon Drive.

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